About Lakers center Dwight Howard (defending New Orleans Hornets point guard Greivis Vasquez here), Kobe Bryant said: "Aside from the big blocks, you've got to look at the shots that he changed, the deflections, the steals -- that's really what turned the tide for us." GERALD HERBERT, AP

NEW ORLEANS – Dwight Howard has aspirations of changing the world.

Not just by playing exciting basketball, but as an example of what can be done by maintaining a continually positive outlook on life.

If anything has really sunk in with Howard in his recent difficult years, it's that he desperately hates being around negativity. There has been so much of it – whether sprung from his poor decisions or the public's ever-readiness to kick at the legs of any pedestal – and Howard has found it quite a test.

If this somehow works out in a NBA championship this season – and heck, even if it just works out pretty respectably in a playoff exit – Howard will look back on it as a demonstration of the power of his positive thinking.

And rightly so, because Howard's point – cultivated in his family where his mother had seven miscarriages before baby Dwight was the cherished child instead of No. 8 – is a righteous one: Stay strong and appreciative through tough times and harsh words. Accomplishments can and will follow.

But here's how Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash are going to look at it if it all ends well:

Dwight Howard grew as a person from the adversity – from the negativity – and that's something inspirational, too.

"If you have a weaker mind, it'll break you," Bryant said after the Lakers' improbable comeback Wednesday night in New Orleans. "But if you decide to let it build you up and make you stronger, then that's what happens."

Bryant and Nash, treasuring this season and its opportunity to win toward the ends of their careers, have run out of patience with the losing and with Howard plenty of times. To find the good answers you have to understand the bad problems. If you don't accept the reality and power of the problems, then you're not going to be able to beat them.

Because Howard is so uncomfortable with negativity – always wanting to have fun, always trying to please people – he's not skilled at tackling that negative energy, harnessing it and powering forward.

"It's been a frustrating year for Dwight," Nash said. "He's not 100 percent; I think he's not living up to expectations because of it. And that's just frustrating. I think it eats at him.

"So sometimes in the games, he can get frustrated – his head down, worrying about previous plays. We just try to fill him with confidence, because he can have such a huge impact on the game if he stays with it."

Nash said he was "incredibly proud" of Howard for his titanic effort in the comeback over Hornets – Howard bouncing back despite no shots in the second half the night before in Oklahoma City, digging deep despite referee rulings not allowing him to play much the first half in New Orleans.

Despite Bryant's undeniable passion, execution and scoring in the comeback, he said of Howard's defensive force: "That's what really turned the tide for us." Bryant ardently made the point that it wasn't Bryant's determination that sparked Howard's flame, either.

"I didn't bring him along," Bryant said. "He brought himself along. I didn't do anything. That's a conscious decision he made to say, 'I'm going dominate the game on this end of the floor, and there's nothing anybody's going to be able to do about it.' That's a choice he made."

My 6-year-old told me recently as I was explaining a lesson to her: "You're making me uncomfortable." So I let it go – understanding the point had gotten through as she stifled her sobs.

Yet I also told her a few days later that it's OK to be uncomfortable sometimes.

That's when limits get tested – and people get better.

In a far more evolved sense, that's where Howard is: learning that negativity and his power of positive thinking actually work great together.

Instead of continuing to hide from the Lakers' inept pick-and-roll play, Howard finally decided to work on it, engaging Nash at the All-Star break about improving it.

"When we've run a lot of pick and rolls, we win at a high clip," Nash said. "When we don't, we lose at a high clip. So it's great that Dwight is really committed to it – for whatever reason. He's just been great at coming out and setting picks for me and Kobe.

"He has been getting me a lot of shots, and at times he hasn't necessarily benefitted from it. But the team has. That's what teams are all about. His contribution, whether he scores or not, is massive."

That's why the most meaningful key to the comeback was Howard instructing Bryant to attack harder because Howard was going to set and hold his pick on Bryant's man even better. With the torn labrum in his shoulder "in a lot of pain," Howard set some epic screens for Bryant to score, the floor opening up for Bryant's glory also because of Nash's sacrifice. Don't overlook one of the greatest playmakers in basketball history accepting the unnoticed role of decoy shooter whom the Hornets' defense would not leave.

"I'm just proud of how we did it together," Bryant said. "That's the most important thing."

Howard is right: Life should be a gift, not just a challenge ... and when the day comes that Bryant does retire, it'll be for that exact reason – to enjoy life's joys more.

Until then, he is hopeful Howard understands that smiling after the challenge feels even more wonderful than smiling before it.

"We didn't fold," Bryant said. "Like Dwight, the game just wasn't going his way offensively and he was getting fouled and it wasn't being called, and it was just one of those games for him. And he just said, 'The hell with it. I'm just going to dominate the game on the glass; I'm going to dominate the game defensively.' "

When the game was just about won, Howard looked back at Bryant, stopped and waited for him. Howard reached out his hand.

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